USA > Wisconsin > Trempealeau County > History of Trempealeau County, Wisconsin > Part 25
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Drake was not so fortunate. On his place adjoining Conant's he had gathered hay, erected a stable and provided for his stock. Lumber had been hauled for a house, but the weather was too cold for building opera- tions. His family was then living near Trempealeau.
The Conants opened their home to them and the two families spent the winter in the one-roomed house, every inch of the floor space being occupied entirely by beds.
The next spring more land was broken and a fair acreage of crops put in. Breaking the land was an interesting operation. It was usually done with a big Whitewater plow and four or five yoke of oxen. The sight and sound of the large "grubs" being torn from the ground was an inter- esting one. Often the plow would be stuck in an unusually large "grub," and this meant a delay of an hour or more. As the year passed other settlers located in the valley, but to this day it has retained its original name, given in honor of the eastern ancestry of the pioneers.
Rainey Valley. In 1865 John Rainey, with his wife, settled on lands in sections 19, 21 and 9; James Hunter, a son-in-law, settled on lands in
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sections 20, 21 and 9; John Berner on lands in sections 29, 19 and 9; and Truman Bric on lands in 19 and 30, 19-9 west. They were the pioneers in the valley.
The valley is about two miles long, and branching in section 20 runs westerly one and a half miles into section 19. Later these lands all changed hands; John D. Rainey soon became the owner of lands settled by John Barner, and Samuel Rainey, James Pringle and others settled in the valley, and numerous parties took up the hill and bluff lands. The valley and the hill farms became valuable and have long been some of the most desirable about the village of Arcadia.
In 1865 David Bennett and his brother William Bennett settled across the river, northeast of Arcadia, and were also pioneers. John Weaver may be said to have been an early settler, as may also Casper Smith. John Rainey, James Hunter, John D. Rainey and Samuel Rainey were the most prominent of the pioneers and early settlers in the valley. Mrs. Catherine Hunter, later known as Catherine J. Beveridge, took an active part in the interests of the valley in early days .- (By Stephen Richmond.)
Meyers Valley is wholly in the town of Arcadia, and lies about one and a half miles south of the village of Arcadia. It is really a series of short pocket valleys with a rich black loam soil, and long has been one of the choice farm localities in the town, and perhaps in the county. Grain growing was long the chief industry, but stock raising, grass and corn has all along had much attention, and in recent years dairying has flourished among the people of the valley. It is a natural locality for diversified or intensive farming, and its people were really always well-to-do when the exclusively grain growing neighborhoods were poor and almost destitute of money. The first settlers in Meyers Valley were Frank J. and Carl Zeller and Nic and Caspar Meyers. The Zellers met the Meyers at Rox- bury in Dane County, Wisconsin, and they soon formed plans to come to Trempealeau County, the Meyers furnishing ox team and wagon, by which they traveled. Arriving in Trempealeau Village, they were directed to go by way of the prairie and Whistler Pass to Arcadia, the route being little else than a trail. However, they completed the journey to the Bishop settlement, and partook of their first meal at the home of David Bishop, it being cooked and served by Mrs. Bishop, who, after the death of Mr. Bishop, married Charles Mercer, and who is the person who gave to Arcadia territory, town and village the name now and for long so well known. At that time there were but few settlers, among them being Collins and David Bishop and families, George Dewey and family, James Broughton and family, George Shelley and family, Ira Penny and family, Carl Ernst and family, John McMaster with his family, Phillip Hartman and family, J. H. Gleason and family and N. D. Comstock, unmarried. The two Zellers and Nic and Caspar Meyers selected lands upon which they made some improvements with the intention of pre-empting them later, which they did. Frank J. Zeller located 120 acres and with his brother built a log house. Later he returned by ox team to Roxbury, Dane County, where, Nov. 26, 1856, he was married. All remained at Roxbury the winter of 1856 and 1857, returning to Arcadia in the spring of 1857, settling upon
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the lands they had located the previous summer, and which they later purchased of the Government and opened and improved into valuable farms.
In the summer of 1857 many settlers came and they continued to arrive until in 1876 the territory was practically occupied. Among the early arrivals were Christian and John Haines, Peter Meyers, George Cain, Theodore Tsherhardt, John Woll, John Bill, Sr., John and Dan Bigham, James Gaveney, Dr. I. A. Briggs, David Massuere, Dan C. Dewey and Henry Dewey, Gay T. Storm and Casper Whiffler.
During the early years of life in the valley, and up to the time of the Indian massacre in Minnesota in 1862, many Indians lived about Arcadia and were frequent or almost daily visitors at the homes of the settlers, being very industrious beggars, but committing no crimes upon the white people. The Indian troubles in Minnesota in 1862 were the occasion of much anxiety and great prudence on the part of the settlers of Arcadia. Every man was armed and equipped to do battle, if necessary, for the protection of family and home. However, no occasion arose necessitating bloodshed. In pioneer days at Arcadia Indians often remained at the homes of settlers until late into the night, visiting and being social in their ways. The market points for many years were Trempealeau and Fountain City in all seasons, and Winona during such time as the Mississippi river was frozen in winters.
Bill's Valley is a branch of Meyers Valley, as is Woll Valley and Hart- man Valley.
In the early days a society known as the St. Joseph Catholic Congre- gation, built a frame church near where the highway divides to go to the Hartman Valley, and to turn into the main valley and over the Pine Creek Ridge and down over the country by way of Whistler Pass to Trempealeau, where services were held until the congregation was merged into the new society at Arcadia in 1883. The cemetery remains and is the silent resting- place of many of the early pioneers of not only Meyers Valley, but that whole vicinity.
The St. Joseph Church stands in the southeast corner of the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter, section 6-20-9; and the cemetery is in the southwest corner of the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter, section 6-20-9.
Meyers Valley proper, in which the Zeller farm is, has a creek that flows out of the northwest side of section 17-20-9, crossing sections 17, 8 and . 7 in the same town ; while the Bill Valley may be said to be confined to sec- tions 11, 12, 13 and 14 in 20-10 west.
The original trail out of Arcadia came up out of Pine Creek onto the Pine Creek ridge above these valleys and Trout Run, following these valleys to the Trempealeau River, and centered in early times at Old Arcadia, or Dewey's Corners, as it was by many known. Later Massuere's Mill became a landmark and point of public interest.
The first white man to die in the Meyers Valley was Phillip Hartman, Sr., and the first to die in Arcadia was David Bishop, who was killed by a bolt of lightning during a storm in 1868. The public school at the mouth
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of Meyer's Valley was organized in 1870, and the first teacher was Ferdi- nand Robertson .- (By Stephen Richmond.)
Thompson Valley is wholly in the town of Arcadia and runs south from American Valley, into which it opens near the upper end of the Miller and Bear mill pond. The valley is about three and a half miles long, foot- ing up against the ridge which separates it from Norway Cooley. The first settler in the valley, so far as is known, was a man who took a claim but went to the war and was never more heard of. His claim was later filed upon by Thove Thompson, who occupied it, proved up his claim and devel- oped it into a valuable farm, on which his widow and his two sons, Alex and Martin, now reside. At the time Thove Thompson settled in the valley, his brothers, Knut and Tolf, settled on lands they homesteaded and erected buildings on, and where they resided until their death. This was in May, 1865. These brothers came from Telemarken, Norway, in April, 1861, and settled in Iowa, where they remained until coming to the valley. -(By Stephen Richmond.)
Trout Run Valley is wholly in the town of Arcadia and is one of the early settled parts of Arcadia and of the county north of the ridge. It is a locality of fertile lands in which all the early pioneers were Germans, and is still their home and that of their children. The creek commences on the north side of the Pine Creek ridge, running in a northwesterly direction to the Trempealeau River a distance of four and a half miles. The valley includes the following sections, or the great part of them, namely: 9, 10, 14, 15, 23 and 24 in township 20, range 10, and 19 and 30 in township 20, range 9. The soil is a rich clay sand loam, highly productive of tame grasses, grains and vegetables.
The very early pioneers were Ludwig Hensel and family, Frederick Kiekhoefer and family, Charles Ulbrech and family and William Kiek- hoefer and family. They settled in June, 1857, emigrating from Milwaukee and were four weeks on the journey, which was made with ox teams. William and Gust Garby located in the valley in 1859, making their home there during the remainder of their lives. Patrick and James Gibbons settled in the valley in 1862, Patrick later selling his lands and moving to Missouri. James Gibbons died on the old farm a few years ago. A. F. Hensel, who had lived in Buffalo County on the John Memietz farm a num- ber of years, and who kept a small store there, and who located all the early settlers in the valley, settled in the valley in 1862. Jacob Pellowski settled on the Brownlie farm in 1862, as did Charles Fisher, whose widow sold the Fisher farm to Fred Kiekhoefer in 1866.
The Trempealeau Valley, north and south, is really a part of Trout Run Valley, in history at least. Among those who settled in the Trem- pealeau Valley in that vicinity were Thomas A. Simpson, in 1856, being then unmarried ; Milton Tucker and Sumner S. Tucker in 1858, Martin Man- ning in 1860, Joe Hausfair and Charles Sexhour in 1862, John Miller, Simon Jegi, Frank Knittle and Dan and Phil English in 1862.
The school district was organized and the schoolhouse built in 1865, and John McMaster was the first teacher. Jack Scond, Fannie Simpson and D. L. Holcomb were the succeeding teachers. T. A. Simpson was the
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first school clerk. The first school meeting was held in the home of Ludwig Hensel. The first schoolhouse was a log house built of logs cut in the valley and was built on the line between Fred Kiekhoefer's and T. A. Simpson's farms. The present schoolhouse is on a different site or location.
The German settlers were Evangelical Methodists, and in 1869 they erected a church near where the present schoolhouse stands, in which religious services have since been held. The society has a cemetery grounds near the church, in which many of the old settlers are buried. The first clergyman to hold services in the valley was from Winona, who came there occasionally on Sundays. The people were industrious, thrifty and thor- oughly American, and have always been among the good citizens of the county. Nearly all of the early settlers were prosperous and for many years only ox teams were used. There were no roads, no bridges and no dugways.
A. W. Hensel, to whom we are indebted for many of the above facts, was born in Prussia, at Nougart, on November 7, 1840. He is a son of Ludwig Hensel and was past 16 years of age when he came to the valley. He served in Company F, 25th Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers, and was married in 1866 to Mary Wagoner. His father settled on and pre-empted 160 acres in section 23, township 20, range 10 west. Frederick Kiekhoefer pre-empted 160 acres in section 14, township 20, range 10 west, and Charles Ulbrech pre-empted 80 acres in section 23, township 20, range 10 west. These were the first farms opened in the valley. The valley was named Trout Run, because of the large numbers of trout in the creek at the time this settlement was made. Mr. Hensel soon visited the Bishop settlement, and for many years took grists to the Masseure mill, trading at the stores kept by Briggs & Dewey and by Gay T. Storm. There was much timber in the valley when settled, a considerable quantity of it being large enough to be squared into 6 by 6, 30 feet long. There was plenty of oak timber for building fences and fuel. The locality was long known as Tucker's Corners. Later a postoffice was established at the home of T. A. Simpson and the name Home was given the locality. The first postoffice was estab- lished Nov. 28, 1865, and Seth Tucker was postmaster to June 12, 1868; Adam Bartch to June 30, 1868; Thomas A. Simpson to April 11, 1870 ; Peter Scholidon to April 21, 1871; Caroline Tucker to June 28, 1875, and Denton Tucker, April 4, 1891, to June 18, 1895, when the office was discontinued .- (By Stephen Richmond.)
North Creek Valley lies wholly in the town of Arcadia and has its head in section 16, township 21, range 8, running southwesterly to the Trempealeau River in section 28, township 21, range 9, a distance of five and a half miles. The valley may be said to be embraced in sections 16, 17, 19 and 20 in 21-9, and sections 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28 in 21-9. The name came to be applied in this way: In the early pioneer days the valley was north from the Bishop settlement and hence was called North Creek. Its very first settlers were Polish families-those of Albert Bautsch, Joseph Stanoskey, and a man named Weaver, who settled there in 1867, and who were soon followed by Louis Wojczik and others in 1868, 1869 and 1870. Thereafter, up to 1875, Polish families continued to come in and the valley
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became the very first Polish settlement north of the ridge in the county. It has remained a settlement of these families and those of their nationality, industrious people, patriotic and intensely American.
The public school was built on the north half of the northeast quarter of 26-21-9, and a church was built nearby on the south half of said quarter. It has remained a place of public worship since and a cemetery was at the same time located near the church.
The valley has good soil and its people have made substantial progress in all matters of farm improvements, homes and outbuildings, horses, stock and diversified farming, and rank among the best farmers in the county. The young people who were born there and have grown up in the valley are among the best people in the county, and are so Americanized that they may be said to be real "Yankees" in language, dress and the usual charac- teristics of our people .- (By Stephen Richmond.)
Bill's Valley is wholly in the town of Arcadia and may be said to cover or include sections 11, 12, 13 and 14 in 20-10. The valley is more of a depression than a valley, as it has no real creek or watercourse. It was settled in 1860 by John Bill, Sr., and soon others came, making it an early or pioneer community, principally of German families, though later many of the settlers were Irish. The soil in the valley is good and the farms valuable. In all ways the progress of the people has kept pace with that of the best settlements in the county. While it has been more or less a mixed community, its people have been good citizens and have taken an active interest in public matters affecting the welfare of the town, county and State .- (By Stephen Richmond.)
Korpal Valley lies wholly in the town of Arcadia and may be said to be wholly within sections 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 in 21-9, and the Korpal Valley Creek runs west from a spring in the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of 12-21-9, through sections 12, 13, 14 and 15, a distance of two and a half miles to the Trempealeau River. The first settler was James Fassett, the second a man by the name of Zabrota. Soon after this there arrived John Korpal, who with Louis Norwitzki settled in the valley, they becoming the first permanent settlers. Others soon followed and the valley and ridges in the vicinity were all settled prior to 1876. The people were industrious and the community has made good progress. The soil is rich and the value of the lands there has risen equally with other parts of Arcadia and the county. The valley and vicinity cannot be said to have been a Polish neighborhood, as many families, American born and Norwegian born, have all along owned and occupied farms there. In early days grain raising was the chief farm industry, but since 1882 the people have gone successfully into diversified farming and have made it as much of a success as any nearby community .- (By Stephen Richmond.)
The Banner Robbery. In the spring of 1860 there arrived in the Big Tamarack Valley an Englishman who called himself John Banner. He seemed to have means and bought for cash eighty acres of land described as the south half of the southeast quarter of section five, township num- bered nineteen, range nine (S. 1/2 of S. E. 1/ 5-19-9). For this he received a deed which he confided to the care of a neighbor. On this land he built
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a shanty and ox-shed, hired some breaking done, planted sod, corn and potatoes, bought a yoke of oxen and a cart, plow and a few other imple- ments and tools. In the fall of 1860 he sowed six acres of winter wheat.
Mr. Banner passed the winter of 1860-61 in the neighborhood, getting acquainted with the settlers, having a good time and being a good fellow generally. In the spring of 1861 he prepared to plant corn and make further improvements on his farm. About the middle of May, 1861, another Englishman, calling himself Nathan Mitchell, came on from Eng- land to visit his friend Banner, and, incidentally, to invest a few "sover- eigns" in American unimproved real estate.
Mr. Mitchell arrived at Mr. Banner's on Friday. Saturday and Sunday Mr. Banner entertained his friend by walking with him from farm to farm and introducing him to the neighbors as "My especial friend, Mr. Mitchell, direct from Liverpool, looking for land," etc. On Monday morning Mr. Banner proposed to initiate his visitor into the American art of planting "maize," and, after getting started and working a while, asked to be excused "while he went to a neighbor's for some seed potatoes."
Mr. Mitchell worked away at his new job until hunger and thirst warned him that the mid-day lunch ought to be due. On going to the shanty the first thing he saw was his carpet-bag with the side cut open, and, lying near, was his "friend's" razor with lint on the edge. A hasty examination showed that a package containing one hundred and thirteen gold "sovereigns" had been taken, and that it was very evident that his friend Banner was the robber. After "a nine days' wonder" and unavail- ing efforts to trace the missing appropriator of his coin, Mr. Mitchell took legal process against Banner's personal belongings that were left behind, such as the oxen, cart, plow, cooking stove, shotgun, grindstone, bedding, etc., including the growing crop of winter wheat, sold the whole at sheriff's sale, pocketed his loss, shook the Big Tamarack dust from his square-toed gaiters and returned to Old England.
Thus closed the John Banner-Nathan Mitchell "tragedy."
The first Polish settler in Dodge, Michael Chisin of Winona, was, in the spring of 1862, piloted to the John Banner farm by Charles J. Cleveland. To that farm he brought his bride, there his children were born, there he passed the rest of his life, and there he died. Several other Poles came into the Tamarack in the fall of 1862 and later. One of the later arrivals was also named "Michael" (Kolodsey or "Collins") and, as everybody was called by the person's given name, to distinguish the two "Mikes," Mrs. Chas. Cleveland gave Chisin the nickname of "Tamarack Mike" and Kolodsey was called "Winona Mike." The two men were very proud of their American names, announcing themselves to English speaking strangers always thus .- (By E. H. Cleveland.)
Williamsburg. The next settler after Lewis Niffin to locate directly up the Trempealeau Valley above Arcadia was Carl Ernst, a native of Germany. Ernst settled on a homestead about three miles above Arcadia, a short distance from the state road, in 1859. The next year Moses Skillins, a native of Connecticut, came up from Winnebago County, Wisconsin, and settled on a piece of state land about four and one-half miles above Arcadia,
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on the state road. This was the beginning of the Williamsburg settlement. In 1862 Hiram Skillins, a Baptist preacher, and a brother of Moses Skillins, came from Winnecone, Wisconsin, and bought some state land about half a mile up the Trempealeau River from his brother's place.
We have noticed how customary it was for a new settlement to take its name from the original settler as instances, Reed's Landing, Bishop's Settle- ment, Lewis Valley. And so the Williamsburg settlement was first known as Skillins' Corners, and the small creek which flowed through Hiram's place was called Skillins' Creek.
Moses Skillins had broken seven acres of land and erected a log shanty where he was "baching" when his brother arrived. But pioneering and "baching" were not to his taste, and he sold his right to his brother and returned to Connecticut.
Henry E. Pierce was the next Williamsburg settler to arrive. He was a native of New York State, and came from Sparta, Wisconsin, in May, 1863, and bought the Moses Skillins place from Hiram Skillins and took the 140 acres of homestead land adjoining it. In June, the same year, William Eastman, another New York Stater, came and selected a homestead about a quarter of a mile above Skillins' Corners, in Wickham Valley, and in August, James Wickham, arrived from New York State and picked out a homestead a few miles up the Wickham Valley for his son Andrew.
The next spring (1864) Douglas Arnold arrived and bought some State land and took up some government land, and in the fall his brother came and settled at Skillins' Corners. These two brothers were also from New York State. The same year William Boorman bought out the Skillins place, and Andrew T. Wickham moved onto his homestead in Wickham Valley.
The Williamsburg farmers were soon raising large crops of wheat, and getting war prices for it; there was an abundance of wild grass for their herds, and the only drawback was the long distance to market. They hauled their wheat to Fountain City, Trempealeau, and in the winter when the Mississippi was frozen over they hauled the grain to the Pickwick mills, in Minnesota.
A postoffice was established in 1866, and thereafter the place was called Williamsburg. It had been known before this as Skillins' Corners, or simply the Corners.
W. B. Arnold has the honor of giving this name to the community, which was a very appropriate name on account of the three Williams, Arnold, Eastman and Boorman, all of whom lived near the Corners.
William Arnold was appointed postmaster at Williamsburg and held the office until it was discontinued in January, 1876. The first mail to Williams- burg was carried on horseback over the route from Minneska, Minnesota, to Black River Falls. Later it was carried by stage, and horseback when roads were bad from Trempealeau on the Trempealeau Elk Creek route. Perry Rumsy was mail carrier for years.
The same year the postoffice was established a schoolhouse was built about twenty rods above the Pierce home on the main road, and near the south corner of Douglas Arnold's place. The first school was taught by Miss Francis Lewis, a sister of Captain John D. Lewis, of Lewis Valley.
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Things moved along rapidly now. The valleys tributary to Williamsburg were being taken up, and cultivated fields soon took the place of the rolling waste of wild grass, and the woodland hillsides resounded with the ax of the wood chopper.
A woodyard was opened, and soon the peddler's wagon found its way into the new settlement with shining new wares to attract the thrifty house- wife. Occasionally the schoolhouse was utilized as a church, and on such Sundays the neighbors would gather from the country round about and hold religious services, and it would sometimes happen that on a pleasant summer Sabbath, some farmer who had been repairing pasture fences would loiter along the deserted road towards the old schoolhouse, and have his vision of rich golden harvest fields suddenly interrupted by the sound of the itinerant preacher's voice coming in sanctimonious quavers from the open windows of the schoolhouse; or perchance the lagging farmer would be stirred by the sound of the music, as out on the fragrant summer air there floated the strains of "The Sweet Bye and Bye."
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